Limitations of local taxation, financial equalisation and methods for calculating general grants

Book abstract:

This book examines the factors - both technical and political - which may hinder fiscal decentralisation, assessing the link between the existence of limitations on local authorities' own fiscal ressources and the establishment of systems based on financial transfers. It also looks more closely at general and specific grants by central government to local authorities.
Lastly, it highlights the crucial role of financial equalisation in local government finance systems. This report is accompagnied by several appendices which present various national transfer systems and the methods used for calculating the grants paid to local authorities.